There Will Be Blood, Part Two: This Is What American Fascism Looks Like

The assault of an unarmed woman because of her political views is not only a felonious act of physical violence, it is an act of political violence meant to intimidate others like her from expressing their similar views. And it works. Right-wing street thuggery has been a mainstay in every incarnation of fascism over the last century, and was utilized by conservative governments and robber-barons to put down labor and populist movements well before that. In Italy the Blackshirts, or National Security Volunteer Militia (sounds familiar), started out as strike-breaking gangs sent to put down worker organizations and terrorize socialists for the Partito Nazionale Fascista, just as the Pinkertons of this country did for industrial tycoons from the 1850’s to the 1930’s. Punching hippies has been the favorite pass-time of scores of fascists for over a century, well before the term “fascism’ even existed.

Fanatical conservatives are inherently violent people. It stems from their belief that those who hold different views are somehow less than human, and deserving of nothing but disdain and torment, whether it be at the hands of God or his “faithful”. This is true of all fanatical conservatives no matter their religious beliefs, hence the similarities (only separated by degrees) between radical Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus or any other radical religiously based ideology. This violent ideology turns from fanatical conservatism to fascism when nationalism replaces religion, and political opponents replace heretics as the target of violence.

"He was an actor of genius. There was no more overwhelming actor on the stage, in the motion pictures, nor even in the pulpit. He would whirl arms, bang tables, glare from mad eyes, vomit Biblical wrath from a gaping mouth; but he would also coo like a nursing mother, beseech like an aching lover, and in between tricks would coldly and almost contemptuously jab his crowds with figures and facts — figures and facts that were inescapable even when, as often happened, they were entirely incorrect." Sinclair Lewis, It Can't Happen Here, 1935

No matter the outcome of the upcoming elections, these violent people are going to lash out. The constant din from hate radio and Fox Nooze over the last fifteen to twenty years has radicalized millions of social conservatives who, at one time were content with demonizing other religions and trying to censor music and television, are now “marching as to war” against anyone and everyone whom they perceive as Socialist-Nazi-Stalinist. This will not end with the election. If the Republicans retake the House, or both the House and Senate, it will only embolden these people to lash out. They will feel vindicated and righteous in doing so, and as their situation worsens due to the failure of Republican policies, they will blame the “others” and lash out even more violently. Coupled with the inevitable Congressional investigations of “scandals” within the Obama administration, breathlessly reported by the corporate media, these violent outbursts will only become more intense and ultimately deadly.

Should the belt-way narrative prove false and the Republicans are held to a bare minority in the House and Senate, then the aforementioned violence will most likely be even more intense. The voices on the right are already gearing up the “voter fraud” chant. Rest assured, if the Democrats pull out a “win” by holding the line next week, the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the right will be deafening. And violence will ensue.

The fall of conservatism into violent fascism is no accident. It has been forty years in the making by obscenely wealthy people like the Kochs, and has singlehandedly transformed a thriving, though imperfect democracy and industrial giant, into a crumbling, idiotic bully incapable of even basic self-preservation, let alone addressing the multitude of self-inflicted catastrophes looming on the horizon. An America torn apart by economic collapse and street violence is a Disaster Capitalists wet dream. The Neo-Robber Barons are anonymously investing in American Fascism because they stand to make a mint by turning the U.S. into a tin-pot Corpritocracy where the labor is cheap and rules don’t exists.

There will be blood, and I only hope that what’s left of our tattered democracy can weather the coming storm. Perhaps with a little hope and courage we may be able to overcome this threat as our grandparents and great-grandparents did, but we will need leaders equal to the task. I can only hope that those who have counted on our undying support, even as they’ve bowed to these radicals, will finally realize that if we don’t stand against them, our democracy will be in name only.